Harry Truman was president, the CIA was founded, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, the Roswell UFO incident was reported, and Ridiculous Day began in Washington, Iowa, all in the same year – 1947.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the celebration in Washington. It began as a way for downtown retailers to sell merchandise at ridiculously deep discounts. The KCII Big Red Radio is downtown on the square for all of the activities from the princess and superhero contest, to 1,000 ducks in the fountain, to the parade that starts at 2 p.m.

The festivities extend into the evening at the municipal airport with Flight Line Live – a concert with live music. Also at the airport will be six high school reunions, Washington Chamber of Commerce Director Michelle Redlinger explains, “We’d always imagined that having this community festival is a great opportunity to bring people back to Washington. And we want people to come back when there’s lots of activities and things happening.”

The four-day Summer Classic wraps up tomorrow with the fly-in breakfast at the airport, a bilingual mass at 11:30, and Noche Latino with food, vendors, music and more in the square. Click here for a full schedule of events.